Lost and Found: We all have at some time in our lives experienced this ‘lost and found’ situation and rejoiced when what we initially thought was lost was ultimately found! I can remember very vividly when we went to a shopping mall nearly 20 years ago and my eldest son Jeremy was just about 8 years old. Suddenly to our shocking reality, he was missing. It was crowded and my heart went tachycardic (means…fast!). I became frightened and shocked and worried and went cold. In the panic, I found myself running up the escalator in the wrong direction. I kept on running up and the escalator kept bringing me down and everyone was wondering what was wrong with me. But I do remember it was hard work and effort trying to go up against the movement of the escalator that was going down. I had lost all sanity of my situation, enveloped in fear of what might be lost – my son.
We loose all sense of direction and bearings when we are in a situation and state of ‘lostness’. The feeling that overwhelmed me most was fear. Fear that my son Jeremy was lost and most of all what he might be going through while looking for his parents. Incidentally, he was later found at the information counter oblivious to what had happened!
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? Jeremiah 17: 9
The Lostness of Man: In the spiritual context, the ‘lostness’ of man is a state of insanity where the heart and soul is hardened to the things of God and deceitful beyond cure. There is no fear of God but rebellion of the soul towards the holiness of God. This is the result of the plague in one own’s heart and until we are saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, only then can we be found as a child of God.
The world is no friend to grace. Any dead fish can swim downstream. The gravity of the world is overcome by the aerodynamics of the Spirit and the purity of heart is to will ONE thing – to fear God. Ken Boa
August 10, 1879: 135 years ago on August 10th, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, England’s best-known preacher for most of the second half of the nineteenth century, preached a sermon entitled: The Plague of The Heart, 1 Kings 8:38 at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, England.
“My Friend, do not write that word, “saved,” unless you can honestly and sincerely say, “I have looked to the Savior Jesus of Nazareth and He has saved me.” But suppose you are forced, in honesty to your conscience, to write down the word, “lost,” as your true description? It will be both wise and useful to do so. The thorny waste shall bear fruit a hundred-fold! He will take you from among sinners and put you among saints. And putting you among the saints, He will make your very experience of sin to be instrumental for good.”
O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7: 24-25
Lost and Found, Robin Mark
When the rain falls
And it some days will
And the pavement under my feet
Sparkles silver in gold
In reflective light
That I otherwise wouldn’t have seen
When the storm comes
And the strong wind blows
I will bow my head to push through
And every step that I take
I will watch and pray
And be sure my foothold is true
Jesus, don’t you keep me from that storm
I want to walk that sacred ground
For You are Master of it all
And I am but a lost and found
And in the dry place
In the wilderness
When Your words seem so far away
I will think of my life and I will
Bless Your name
For Your promises never have failed
And when the night falls
At the end of days
I will lift my eyes to the Heavens
And we will shine like the stars
For eternal days
In Your presence forever and ever
Jesus, don’t you keep me from that storm
I want to walk that sacred ground
For You are Master of it all
And I am but a lost and found
AWAKEN THE DAWN 